Rush Was A Genius

Laurie Kauffman
, ContributorI cover the crossover between finance and improv. Improv is harder.Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

... had he been performing on an improv stage.

Rush Limbaugh's latest kerfuffle, which involved him calling Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown law student who advocated for birth control, a slut and a prostitute ---then apologizing -- would have made a terrific improv routine. Especially since he alleged that she was having so much sex that she couldn't afford contraception. The day after these incendiary remarks, Mr. Limbaugh went on to add 'if we're going to pay for your contraceptives and thus pay for you to have sex, we want something for it. We want you to post the videos so we can all watch'. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/02/rush-limbaugh-sandra-fluke-sex-slut_n_1316625.html.

There's a concept in improv called ' If That is True, What Else is True?' It builds on the 'Yes, And' idea in which players always accept one another's ideas and build on them, build on them, build on them until the scene reaches a crescendo.

If The Lovers Are Flying, Then What?

If That Is True...applied to Mr. Limbaugh, might go something like this:

Mr. Limbaugh: You are a slut and a prostitute.

Ms. Fluke: Yes and I am also a man.

.

The If That Is True concept also plays very well when trying to decipher corporate news and investment advice. For example, if Verizon Communications cut the labor costs of its landline workforce, then AT&T calls for deep and wide benefit cuts for 40,000 landline workers whose contracts expire next month. And we can expect others to follow suit